Category Archives: News

e-Brief Features Healthcare News Comments

Pharr EMS has introduced TRAUMAGEL into its emergency medical response system, becoming the first EMS service in the Rio Grande Valley and south of Houston to use the innovative, life-saving technology. TRAUMAGEL is a plant-based hemostatic gel designed to control moderate to severe bleeding in seconds. Applied directly to a wound, the gel conforms to the injury site to rapidly control bleeding, helping stabilize patients until they receive advanced medical…

McAllen ISD Named a Texas Honor Roll District Again

February 5, 2026

e-Brief Features Education News Comments

For the third straight year, McAllen ISD has been named a Texas Honor Roll school district. In addition, 15 McAllen ISD schools were named 2025 Texas Honor Roll schools. The list is based on data released by a non-profit organization that is part of a national effort to identify higher-performing schools and school districts. The McAllen ISD campuses include: Achieve Early College High School Brown Middle School Cathey Middle School Fossum…

Millennial Couple Making Brownsville Shine

Featured Food & Entertainment News Comments

It was more the opportunity to restore a historic building than starting a business that was the initial inspiration for Hector Zavala when he saw a 1860s-era building in Downtown Brownsville. Zavala was in his mid-20s at the time when spotting an old botica building on the corner of 11th and Washington streets. The over 160-year-old pharmacy building that also housed doctors’ offices and a clinic had been left vacant…

RGV Seeks Ways To Help Arroyo

Community News Comments

The Arroyo Colorado at its historical core is an ancient channel of the Rio Grande that formed during one of the main river’s many flood events. The Arroyo is 90-miles long. Its headwaters are located south of Mission. From there it winds east – most prominently through Harlingen – in crossing through three counties before flowing into the Laguna Madre. The Arroyo cuts through the heart of the Rio Grande…

Mid-Valley Growth Lifts Entrepreneurs

Food & Entertainment News Comments

The growth of a small business can come from the result of well-crafted planning – or sometimes by happenstance. Norma Ozuna and her husband Eddie, with years of experience in working for corporate restaurant chains, made the move in 2021 to open their own business along Expressway 83 in Mercedes. O’s Burgers & More is located adjacent to the emerging Shops At Mercedes. The latter is a 250,000-square-foot retailing development…

Culture & Family Form Essential Ingredients

Food & Entertainment News Comments

Chris Ardis

The story of Victor and Lori Arteaga is a tale of two countries. It is a tale rooted in family, tradition, food and culture. Both were born in Mexico City and moved to McAllen as pre-teens, though they did not meet until years later. At the age of 11, Victor and his family moved to McAllen, where his mother’s sister lived. “I didn’t speak any English when I moved over…

Brownsville Developing Its Downtown Jewel

Community News Comments

The City of Brownsville made a $3 million-plus decision 10 years ago that it was going to invest in and revitalize its Market Square. It is the historic heart of Brownsville with its origins going back to the early 1850s when it opened as an open-air market. In the years that followed it would house city offices and later become a hub for its bus system. Market Square looked worn…

RGV Startup Week 2026 Opens RSVPs

January 29, 2026

Community Events e-Brief Features News Comments

RSVPs are now open for the third annual RGV Startup Week, taking place April 24 through May 1. What began just two years ago has grown exponentially into one of the Rio Grande Valley’s largest entrepreneurship gatherings, drawing regional, state and national attention to the innovation happening locally. RGV Startup Week 2026 will once again bring together entrepreneurs, students, small business owners, investors and ecosystem partners from across the Valley…

STC Campuses Set to Host VITA

January 29, 2026